This has been a most interesting year. I wonder what I’ll think when I look back on this year — in years to come. I wonder if the rough edges will seem smooth later on and I wonder if the smooth days will be remembered with even more fondness. Hmmm. It’s interesting to think of all this. As I looked back at the very few posts over the last several months, I noticed I’ve been sort of stuck in a recurring theme: journaling, remembering, recording… messages that will be left behind. Tonight, cleaning in one of the bedrooms upstairs, the…
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What if you knew today was the last day you’d be alive. What would you do — or how would you spend this day? It seems that most of the time people think of what’s on their “bucket list” — you know, the list of stuff people want to do before they die. I don’t know why the thought of death triggers an urgency to get out the bucket list to see what could be done. But I was thinking that, in reality, the bucket list is a pretty self-serving deal and pretty much adds nothing to the lives left…
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A dear friend recently wrote a letter regarding losing vision and had several thoughts regarding the danger of lacking vision, and the importance of having vision or purpose. I’ve mulled that over. And over. I empathized and I actually sort of felt sick at the thought, the tragic thought of losing vision. And then it struck me (but it wasn’t the first time) that I’ve lost vision. If you’ve never “lost vision” before, then it’s probably hard to understand how someone could go along, have a great track to run on and then suddenly lose vision. But it happens. And…
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Though I have a number of very favourite or treasured verses I continually recall, there are a few that give me great encouragement and great hope. Some I have copied and posted in my home, some I have highlighted or underlined and some I have recorded alongside God’s work or answers to prayer, continued petitions, blessings and other heartfelt matters written in journals. As I’ve been slowly reading through the Word this year, I’ve been sort of surprised at the number of verses I’ve underlined or highlighted. I’ve been continually blessed and encouraged by dated notes beside significant verses…
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Time was when people could hold to some basic principles or live by personal convictions — decisions that may or may not be or may not’ve been popular — and yet they could sort of remain unspoken or undeclared. Publicly, anyway. Time was when people could hold to convictions and only a small circle of community would’ve been aware of the person’s or couple’s personal convictions. Now… not so. With the advent of email, internet chat-rooms and bulletin boards in the 90’s… e-groups list mail and then the explosion of “social media” such “personal convictions” become public declarations. Write an…
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I had the privilege to present a session of Jennifer’s Morning Motivation webinar this morning. — and what a fun time it was for me! I hear the “Go to Meeting” commercials on the radio and the process has sounded great, but I’ve never “attended” an online meeting or webinar before! So, I’m really glad I got to do it today! I have sooo missed sharing messages or teachings at meetings and retreats and so to have had this opportunity today was a real blessing for me. I’m always thinking of things I’d like to share with sisters… things the…
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Though in many ways it seems longer, it was a year ago today that the Lord gave us a great gift in the form of a miracle. We know it was by the grace of God that Timothy, who was deathly sick with cerebral malaria, awoke from a coma. Our family had been at the Oregon Coast for a family reunion; Timothy had just returned from Ghana, West Africa. He was sick and getting worse by the day. After several days and medication for what was thought to be Typhoid, his condition was grave, he was so thin and frail;…
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“She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” proverbs 31.26 As we have “spell-check” to alert us to misspelled words – or a grammar-check to alert us of grammar mistakes, this verse serves a divine speech-check — except that we never get a second chance to say the right thing first. This verse then would be our speech-filter verse. The word spoken is spoken – no highlight, delete, re-speak… what’s said is said. We might tend to say the first thing that comes to our mind — and may not stop and…
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In my drafts bucket I have a whole bunch of half-begun and mostly unfinished drafts of letters and blog entries I intended to send or post. Many never get finished. I either don’t have time or I don’t have enough of the “rest of the story” in my head to complete the work. Usually, it’s the former, not the latter. So, time takes time. I’ve said this to myself, to my children, to other women… I’ve thought this many, many times. I’ve usually thought this as a self-reminder when a situation seems to be unchanging or a problem seem to…
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It’s Independence Day here in the States. Independence Day… the day we celebrate many things – Freedom, Family, Life, Independence — not being dependent on another country for our country’s governance or control — in this case, independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. All over the valley, though nightfall is many hours away, the booms are sounding and fireworks dot the sky. The humming of the Star Spangled Banner seems to be in the breeze. We have an old flag — each stripe pieced with heavy, cotton thread and each year I hang it from the flagpole on our…